No worries, I don't want money (well, I do...) just some recipe ideas.

Background:

I am a health conscious, organic buyer (when I can), who doesn't eat red meat. I am somewhat lactose intolerant and do not drink milk but I do eat cheese in limited quantities. I love soy and tofu.

In my dorm, I have no access to an oven or range, cannot have a hotplate, toaster, or toaster oven. I have a microwave, rice cooker, mini fridge, and a hot shot.

SO, I was hoping I could gather some dorm friendly, healthy recipes from my fellow Hellions. I could go to my parents' home and prepare things that can be stored but I have limited refrigerator space. I'm looking for both meal and snack ideas. I need recipes with ingredients that will keep well either refridgerated or in a airtight container, etc.

Any ideas? I am trying desperately to improve myself, cutting out all the Easy Mac and vending machine foods is one of my steps.

I'm going to Google this myself but I know from experience that eHell always has the best ideas!

It is possible to cook ordinary pasta in a standard microwave! You might need to experiment a bit to get the timing just right, but it does work.

Try cooking some fusilli pasta (about 250 grams/8 ounces), then adding a small tin each of corn and kidney beans or cannelini beans (drain and rinse the beans first), then dress it with a dollop of olive oil and a couple of spoonfuls of mayonnaise, and lots of fresh-ground black pepper.

The rice cooker can double as a steamer. Do you have the steamer basket it came with? If you do, make a pot of rice and place it in a tupperware. Then take your choice of veggie/tofu, add it to the steamer. After the stuff is cooked to your desired doneness, place in the tupperware that has the rice, add your seasonings like soy or teriyaki sauce, close it up to shake. Voila, you have steamed stir fry.

from one poor student (although i am 47 and a single mom...) to another:

I make a big pot of brown rice or other whole grain (I don't know if you can make other grains in the rice cooker?) when it's stll warm, pour a vinegrette over it (i make my own - olive oil. lemon juice with some grated peel, spices, herbs). that stays pretty well for about 4-5 days, maybe more. that's the base for your meal - add vegetables, and some kind of bean/nut/lentil and voila - you have a healthy meal. you can buy those premixed bags of salad.

if you can cook stuff at your parents - i would suggest things like lentil soup or split pea soup - they freeze really well.

how about a slow cooker - can you get one of those? you can make all kinds of stuff in that.

Rice and beans - make in the rice cooker, add some spices, maybe a bit of tomato sauce, and top with some grated cheese.

Steamed vegetables with parmesan cheese and a squeeze of lemon, or lemon, olive oil and dill.

Get some of the Japanese rice toppings - it comes in small jars and is a mix of spices, dried herbs, dried seaweed and toasted seaweed, and is lovely on top of steamed rice.

If you can get the cans of mixed beans they're great for smaller servings. Rinse and toss with some chopped onion and celery, some vinegar, olive oil and spices - enough bean salad for two meals.

Some of the Asian noodles work much better with a microwave than classic pasta - some just need boiling water poured over them, others have a short cooking time.

Get fresh udon (thick Japanese noodles) - you can get it in single serve sealed packages. Heat them in some chicken stock in the microwave with some sliced mushrooms and green onions and a bit of soy sauce - quick Japanese style soup.

Get some Tom Yum paste (Thai Hot and Sour soup), which is often sold in jars. A tablespoon of that, some diced vegetables (carrot, onion, celery, mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, peas corn), a little time in the microwave and you have an awesome vegetable soup.

blarg- all those things sound lovely, but there isn't any sort of ready supply of exotic foods here. Trust me, I've looked. I can get to a Mexican grocery but Asian ingrediants are like looking for a green polar bear- you can find it, but it's hard to, rare, and you won't find it again. Do you know any online source I could order the ingrediants from?

blarg- all those things sound lovely, but there isn't any sort of ready supply of exotic foods here. Trust me, I've looked. I can get to a Mexican grocery but Asian ingrediants are like looking for a green polar bear- you can find it, but it's hard to, rare, and you won't find it again. Do you know any online source I could order the ingrediants from?

I'm not sure - I have the exact opposite problem - Asian foodstuffs are plentiful and cheap, but finding good cheese and bread is difficult.

Ulla, I'm not much of a healthy eater, but I checked my standard recipes site, and it has both a "healthy living" and "quick and easy" section. The HL section can be separated to include dairy free, as well as other areas, and you may be albe to tweak stuff to fit the cooking items you have in your dorm. Check it out:

purity

Ulla, have you ever tried Tasty Bite? They're prepackaged meals that come in pouches, they don't need any refrigeration and you can heat them either by boiling the pouch (or I beleive by microwaving.) They're very cheap, less than $3 a package, and they come in a lot of vegan/vegetarian/lactose free etc. combinations, mainly in Indian and Thai flavors. I sent a huge box of them as a care package to a young vegan friend of mine who was recovering from an illness so she was undernourished, and wasn't being looked after very well by her family since they thought being vegan was dumb. They're absolutely delicious and really easy, especially if you're busy with classes. You can either buy them in stores like Trader Joe's or order them directly online. You'll want to add some rice, but they're fantastic.

Ulla, one of the frozen veggie companies (Birdseye, I think) now sells plain (unseasoned, unbuttered) frozen veggetables in a microwave steamer bag, just take it out of the freezer, stick it in the microwave, and you have veggies in a few minutes. I've tried them a few times, and they're as good as ordinary stove cooked frozen vegetables. They could be handy if you're already using your rice cooker for something else, or you want something like corn that doesn't work well in the rice cooker

One of the baggie companies has ads on TV now for microwave steamer bags, too, but I haven't tried them. Not sure if it would be more cost effective to buy them in a ready made steamer bag, or pay extra for special bags and buy cheaper veggies.